Bankroll Management
If any of you dream of playing poker professionally for a living then the first thing any pro will advise you is to adapt a sensible bankroll management system. If you intend on playing poker for fun whilst still making a profit again the first thing that any pro would advise you is to adapt a sensible bankroll management system.
The reason why you will receive this advice is because unfortunately for you, you are a human. Poker is a game of skill and unlike other gambling options such as sports betting or casino betting you can profit from playing poker in the long run. You may play professionally or recreationally but if you stick to playing your best game at all times you can and will make a profitable return and bankroll management is imperative if you wish to do this.
Why is adapting a bankroll management system important?
In the previous paragraph I wrote, “unfortunately for you, you are a human”. Now you might have been scratching your head at this but please allow me to explain via an example.
Imagine you are in a cash game with €100 in chips in front of you playing at blinds of €0.50/€1 . You hold 
on the button
There is one raise to €4 before you and knowing you have the best hand possible you re-raise it to €15.
The two blinds fold and the orginal raiser re-pops it to €40.
Your instinct here should be to push all in as you have the current nuts.
Now if you get called your chances of winning this hand are probably 80% If the other players holds 
then it will end in a tie 96% of the time. But 2% of the time you will actually lose the hand. My point here is that your hand although the well known strongest starting hand always has the possibility of being beaten.
Lets say for example that you don’t currently run a bankroll management system. Losing €100 is probably going to be hard to take if you get unlucky. You’ll feel really unlucky if you lose. You may then stop playing which isn’t good at all because you are forced to walk away from a game you know you can profit from.
Now lets say you have €500 that you have set aside to play poker and this same situation occurs. If you get unlucky and you lose that €100 that’s 20% of your entire bankroll that you’ve lost. That’s quite a hefty sum. Do you think that would affect you negatively? It would to me.
What is an amount that I could lose when I get unlucky and not feel negatively affected?
Losing is never fun, but it’s apart of the game of poker and there’s nothing you can do to change that. With a solid game and good discipline you can profit from this game and I would suggest that the maximum amount you should be buying in to with a game is 5% of your bankroll.
Let’s say you have €100 you want to play poker with like before. Instead of buying in for the maximum amount in a €0.50/€1 game you should only consider buying in to a game with a maximum buyin of €5 (5% of your €100). If you lose this it is only going to be a tiny nick into your wallet and should the situation come up where your get’s beat you wont be so emotionally dissapointed that you would not be able to continue playing your best game.
Think about this for a moment. It really makes a mental difference to you when you inevitably get unlucky.
The maximum buy-in to the lowest stake cash games at Fortune Poker is €0.02/€0.04 which carries a maximum buy-in of €4 and is therefore less than the 5% of our €100 bankroll.
When should I move up a level?
The next level is €0.05/€0.10 which requires a maximum buy-in of €10 so you should only look to move up to this level once your bankroll has reached €200. If you move up to this level and then find you lose a few games and your bankroll falls below €200 you should move back down to €0.02/€0.04 until you grind your way back to €200.
Following this rule can be one of the hardest things for a poker player to do as it requires really strong discipline. However, the types of players that don’t have this strong discipline are the types of players that go broke.
If you follow these rules you should never have to deposit again.